In this, our eleventh issue of Cultivate, we focus on the Australian food and agribusiness sector, an industry which feeds approximately 60 million people worldwide. Our focus includes an interview with Geoff Honey, CEO of Grain Trade Australia about the role of Australia’s grain industry in global and particularly Asian food security. We also explore the impact of COP 21 and the Paris agreement by reviewing Australia’s mitigation efforts towards climate change, and take a look at the likely impact of the Australian Government’s recent Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper. Finally, as the Australian government looks to strengthen the agricultural sector in its region, we review the new foreign investment regime and how it seeks to establish stronger competition in agricultural supply chains.

Beyond Australia we shine a spotlight on a range of topics from the consultation on a proposed “Sugar Tax” in the UK and workplace legislation affecting farmers in Canada to the tensions between the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and its competition law policy. We also examine the challenges facing French agriculture industry and investigate how opportunities for farmers in the US significantly expand the quinoa production, an increasingly popular food which has traditionally been grown principally in South America.

Contents

Food security and Australian grain – challenges and opportunities Post COP 21 and the Paris Agreement

Australia’s new foreign investment regime The UK’s proposed soft drinks industry levy

Is the sun setting on the ranch? Canadian workplace legislation and the impact on farming operations After Milan Expo 2015: what’s next for the food sector in Italy?

Agricultural competitiveness in Australia – a new focus of the regulator The race to produce Quinoa: opportunity knocks for grain farmers

Up in arms: understanding the French agricultural crisis Making the healthy choice easy

The battle between the European Union’s competition and agricultural policies White


Food safety

FDA issues final implementing rule Australia – States and territories agree to country of 32 origin food labelling reforms

FDA finally unveils new nutrition facts White



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